Sao Tome and Principe: Key parameters:
Reported, December 12, 2011
Sao Tome and Principe was discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands’ sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century – all grown with plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. While independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s. The country held its first free elections in 1991, but frequent internal wrangling between the various political parties precipitated repeated changes in leadership and two failed coup attempts in 1995 and 2003. The recent discovery of oil in the Gulf of Guinea promises to attract increased attention to the small island nation.It is located at Western Africa, islands in the Gulf of Guinea, straddling the Equator, west of Gabon,
Total fertility rate:5.08 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Health expenditures:7.1% of GDP (2009)
Physicians density:0.49 physicians/1,000 population (2004)
Hospital bed density:3.2 beds/1,000 population (2006)
Major infectious diseases:Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever,Vectorborne disease: malaria,
Animal contact disease: rabies (2009)